Rick stopped his swing and sat still, kicking the sand. "I had plans for us for this weekend. I guess it means more to me than it does to you for us to be together."
"I can get off this Saturday. What were your plans?" His pouting made her more irritated than nervous.
"Never mind."
"Rick, I'm doing the best I can! Give me a chance. I can get off Saturday, my restriction is over, and I'm as anxious as you are to spend time together. So, come on. Let's work it out."
"All right, let's try this. I wanted to fly kites at the beach, have Mexican food in Carlsbad, and then go to the movies. Think we can do all that, or do you have time limits on your dates?"
"No, of course not. It sounds great. I'll clear everything and let you know as soon as I find out, okay?"
"It's okay for me to start calling you?" Rick asked.
"Yes." Christy felt that everything was going to work out, and already she was eager to spend Saturday with Rick.
"One more race," Rick challenged, kicking off and pushing his swing into high gear.
Christy followed his lead, pointing her toes toward the sky and trying to swing high enough to keep up with her boyfriend.
After Rick, dropped her off, Christy made a few phone calls and arranged to take off from work on Saturday. At dinner, she approached the plan carefully with her parents.
"I don't like the idea of your starting to take off work already," Dad said. "It's okay this time, but I don't think you should do it again except if you're sick or we have something planned as a family."
"It's okay with you, though, if Rick and I spend Saturday together? Going to the beach, dinner in Carlsbad, and to a movie?" Christy wanted to make sure no glitches existed in her weekend plans.
Her mom and dad exchanged glances. "As long as you're back by ten o'clock, it's okay. We're strict about curfew, though. One minute past ten, and you're back on restriction," Dad said.
Christy felt certain they could have an early dinner and find a movie that ended before ten. She couldn't wait to tell Rick everything was clear.
He called the next day after school, and when she told him, he sounded pleased. She felt great.
"I have a surprise for you," Rick said.
"Oh really? What?"
"You'll find out Saturday."
"Can I try to guess?" Christy asked.
"You can try, but it won't do you any good. You'll never guess. You might as well wait and be surprised."
They talked for more than an hour, and then it was time for dinner. Christy moaned when she realized it was her turn to do dishes again. She had let some of her homework from the previous night slide because of spending the afternoon with Rick at the park and being too tired to stay up much past nine. So tonight she had an abundance of reading to do.
It was nearly ten-thirty when Christy decided she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. She still had four chapters to read and two pages of math. She gave up and went to sleep.
The next morning she felt awful. All day she seemed to be dragging.
At lunch Katie started in with her advice. "If you ask my opinion, you're coming down with something. You have that red look around the eyes."
Things had been tense between them for the past few days, and Katie's comments about how Christy looked didn't help much. Christy had learned to keep their conversations on neutral subjects, like school.
"That's from reading so much," she said. "And I didn't even come close to finishing it all last night. What is with all the homework this year?"
"They're getting us ready for college, didn't you know?" Katie bit into a candy bar. "Have you picked out your poem yet for literature class?"
"No. Have you?"
"I think so. They're all pretty hard to read aloud because of all the thees and thous. I mean, if we're supposed to stand up in front of the class and read one of these romantic masterpieces, you'd think they'd at least give us some written in English."
"They are in English, Katie. Victorian English. That's why they're from the Victorian poetry section, remember?" Christy didn't feel like eating much. This was one of the last warm Indian-summer days, and all she wanted to do was stretch out in the shade and sleep.
"Well, let me know what poem you pick, and tell me if it's easy," Katie said.
Christy stopped by the library on the way home and found a book with some of the suggested poems for class. She checked out the book, went right home, and took a nap. Mom woke her in time for dinner, which Christy ate little of.
"Are you feeling okay, Christy? Do you think you're coming down with something?" Mom placed her cool hand on Christy's forehead.
The hand on the forehead reminded her of something. What was it? Todd. Todd's blessing that early morning on the beach.
That tiny memory acted like a key, unlocking a treasure chest of thoughts and feelings. Christy fought to keep it all shut up inside.
"I'm okay," she told her mom. "Just tired out from too much homework, I think. I have a bunch more tonight too."
"I'll help you with the dishes," Mom offered.
They finished up by seven-fifteen, but just as Christy was ready to plunge into the homework pool, Rick called. She curled up with the phone on the end of her bed and let his soothing voice erase her earlier flashes of Todd.
"I miss you," Rick said. "I've been counting the days until Friday. You don't mind if I spend the evening at a certain pet store, do you?"
"As long as I don't get in trouble." Christy couldn't believe how energetic she began to feel as she talked to Rick.
"You know what I miss?" Rick asked. "I miss the smell of your hair."
"My hair? What does my hair smell like?"
"I don't know. It smells fresh, like lemons or something. And I miss the way your hand feels in mine-so soft and little."
Christy looked at her hands as he spoke his gentle words. She never had thought of them as little before. She noticed the nails were chipped on three of her fingers. She made a note to do her nails before Friday. Rick would notice.
He said a handful of sweet, heartwarming things he liked about Christy. When she hung up at nine, she felt like a princess who had just been thoroughly adored. She decided to put off her homework and work on her nails.
On Friday morning she was noticing a spot she had missed, when her literature teacher called out in class, "Christy Miller? Which poem have you selected to read in class next week?"
Christy grabbed the book she had checked out of the library. Quickly running her eyes down the list of Victorian poems, she stopped at one near the bottom of the page because it was written by someone who shared her first name.
"I'm going to read, 'Twice,' by Christina Rossetti." She hoped it was a short poem. Before she had a chance to look it up in the book, the bell rang.
"You didn't tell me you picked a poem," Katie said, joining Christy as they walked into the noisy hall.
"I didn't have one until a minute ago. I just picked it," she confessed. "Where did you find yours?"
"I went for one on the handout. The shortest one. Do you want to hear the first few lines? I have it right here. Tell me if this doesn't remind you of something." Katie held her paper up and read, I plucked pink blossoms from mine apple tree
And wore them all that evening in my hair:
Then in due season when I went to see
I found no apples there.
Katie looked up at Christy, waiting for her response.
Christy shrugged her shoulders.
"Well?" Katie prodded. "Doesn't it make you think of something?"
"No. What's it supposed to make me think of?"
"Oh, nothing, I guess," Katie said, sticking the paper back in her folder. "Only it made me think of certain people who dance around with blossoms in their hair, not realizing there won't be any apples later."
"What are you trying to tell me?" Christy felt her anger begin to bubble up again. "This is about Rick, isn't it? You've been dying to give me your advice for weeks now. Why don't you get it over with? What do you have against him?"
Katie's face turned red. "You want to know what I think? Good! I'll tell you. You're making a mammoth mistake going out with him. Rick is bad news. He's going to break your heart. Why couldn't you have gone out with him once and left it at that? Why did you have to break up with Todd and chain yourself to Rick?"
"Katie, it's not like that. I explained all this to you already. I didn't plan on things happening this way. They just happened!"
"Yeah, well, if the blossoms fit, wear them. But don't expect me to feel sorry for you when they die and you discover there are no apples left on your tree!" With a swish of her red hair, Katie turned and marched off to class.
What was that supposed to mean? What's her problem?
Two classes later, Katie stood waiting for Christy at her locker. "I'm sorry," Katie said. "Are you still speaking to me?"
Christy considered snubbing her for an instant but realized that this was her closest friend. She hated arguing with her.
"I just don't understand why you're so against Rick," Christy said, spinning through the combination on her lock. "You're not giving him a chance, and I don't think you're giving me a chance either."
"I know. You're right."
"You don't know Rick like I do. He's a perfect gentle-man to me. I'm having a hard enough time with my parents putting me on restriction and trying to get used to a new job without my best friend yelling at me too."
"You're right, Christy. I told you before that I supported you, and I want to. It's just hard because now that you're working and have a boyfriend, you don't seem to have much time left for me."
"Then we'll have to plan on doing something together. I'm not trying to ignore you."
"I know. You have a lot going on. I understand that. We'll have to figure out a time for our slumber party."
"Sure!" Christy agreed, feeling as though things had cleared up between them. "We still have to have our slumber party. Maybe next weekend."
"Okay," Katie agreed. "Next weekend. Definitely next weekend."
As Christy drove to work after school, she thought, My life is getting so complex. All of a sudden I have no time to do the things I used to.
She pulled into a gas station and prepared to pump nearly half of her first paycheck into the tank of the car she shared with her mom.
Yes, she sighed as the sickening smell of gasoline filled her nostrils, life is certainly complex.
She arrived at work five minutes late and explained to Jon, "I had to buy gas. Have you noticed how expensive gas is lately?"
"Actually, prices are down a little," he said. "Oh, by the way, your boyfriend came by."
Christy stopped and looked at Jon. "My boyfriend?"
How does he know about Rick? He was here only one time. What did Rick do, come in and bully Jon by saying, "Stay away from her, Tartan. She's mine"?
"Yeah, your boyfriend." Jon had a wry smile on his face, enjoying teasing her.
"Did he say anything?"
"No. He'll be back though. He went into the jewelry store."
Christy was surprised at Jon's perceptiveness. "You don't miss a thing, do you?" she said, feeling free to tease him back a little.
"Nope, not a thing. Do you want to hear what your best friend looks like? You know, the redhead with the poodle named Poopsie?"
Now Christy felt embarrassed. How did Jon notice all these things?
"And I knew you were from a farm when I saw your dad."
"I can't believe you! Do you have radar tracking skills or something?" Christy said, wondering how many other nonchalant things she had done in the store, assuming he wasn't watching.
"After you work here a while, you figure out different types of people. By the way, I have to leave early tonight, so Beverly is going to lock up. I know you're not working tomorrow, but I wanted to make sure you could stay a little after nine tonight in case Beverly needs help closing."
"Okay, that's fine," Christy said.